56 Transactions. — Miscellaneous. 



Thei-e are four place-names in the district which may 

 possibly owe their origin to the aforesaid setting-up of rahui 

 on the land, two of which — Puketitiri and Titiokura — were 

 mentioned by Noa Huke. The other two are Waititirau, the 

 site on which stands Mr. J. H. Coleman's house, and Wakatu, 

 or, as I suppose it to be rightly spelt, Whakatu, near To- 

 moana. 



The name Puke-titi-ri has no reference to the bird titi, 

 a large petrel, generally spoken of as the " mutton-bird." 

 Different varieties of these petrels are often heard and dimly 

 seen when passing overhead on a summer evening in the 

 gloaming on the way from the sea to their nests in holes 

 excavated in the light pumice soil of the mountain-ranges far 

 inland — possibly a distance of forty miles or more. They 

 mostly travel in pairs, somewhat apart, and must return again 

 to the sea before daylight, yet I have never detected them on 

 the return journey. These birds also nest in great numbers 

 on the small islands near the Bluff, Southland, and also those 

 near Stewart Island. 



The Southern Maoris visit the islands each season and 

 collect the young birds from the nests, at which time they are 

 extremely fat. They are partially cooked, and then packed 

 away in the large bladder-like portions of a kelp or coarse sea- 

 weed, and are, as it were, imbedded in their own fat, which 

 aids in their preservation. This industry is a yearly harvest 

 to the southern Maori. 



To return to my subject : We have Puke, " a hill "; titi, 

 " of the setting-up " ; ri, " of the mark " which no person dare 

 to pass over. Surely this must be one of the places where 

 rahui w^as set up. Why are we unable to discover the exact 

 spot where this special rahui was erected ? The second word 

 mentioned by Noa Huke was Titiokura, which divides thus : 

 Titi, "the setting-up"; o, "of"; kura. This word kura 

 has a variety of meanings, as " red in colour," " a wreath or 

 head-dress," &c. ; and the painting the posts supporting a 

 house with red-ochre was a symbol indicating the tajnc or 

 sacredness of such building. We find the w^ord Whare-kura 

 used by the Polynesians to denote the sacred building where 

 the young priest-chiefs (ariki) were taught mythology, history, 

 agriculture, astronomy, &g. This house was very tajm : no 

 women were allowed to come near it, food was cooked at a 

 distance and brought by special messengers. I have no doubt 

 kzira in this instance was an allusion to the chief supports of 

 the building being painted red, as an indication of its sacred 

 character. 



In support of this theory I quote the following from 

 " Traditions of the New-Zealanders," by Dr. Shortland (page 

 112) : "In former days the huts used in travelling by sacred 



